Former Congresswoman Buerkle to host WSYR talk show

SYRACUSE — Ann Marie Buerkle, who served one term as a U.S. Representative from 2011 to 2013, says she’s going to debut a one-hour weekend talk show on Newsradio 570 and 106.9 WSYR. The new show, which is actually paid programming, begins on May 25.

Buerkle, a Republican, defeated Democrat incument Dan Maffei in the 2010 election. But two years later, a rematch resulted in Maffei returning to office. Although Buerkle has reportedly said she would consider another rematch in 2014, she hasn’t yet announced any firm decision on whether she’ll run again.

CNYRadio.com contacted WSYR program director Aaron Trimmer and Clear Channel Syracuse Operations Manager Rich Lauber for confirmation and further comment on the new program. Neither responded to us, but GM Joel Delmonico eventually talked to Herbert for a second story which appeared on syracuse.com on Thursday afternoon.

Delmonico confirmed that Buerkle will be on the air just once a month to start, but he expects she’ll “soon” increase it to every other weekend. A “group” of the former Congresswoman’s supporters are paying for the air time, but Herbert says the name of the group was not made available. Her timeslot will be on Saturdays from 11am to noon.

For the weekends when Buerkle is not on the air, WSYR will continue to air the program already in the timeslot: “Your Hometown,” hosted by WSYR weekday afternoon drive time host Bob Lonsberry.